


The Magic Castle

by admiralandrea



Category: Bosch (TV), NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25933813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/admiralandrea/pseuds/admiralandrea
Summary: Callen reveals a little something about his past to Sam after seeing the end of the Waits manhunt on the news
Relationships: G Callen/Sam Hanna
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	The Magic Castle

**Author's Note:**

> References the events of Bosch S1 Ep 9 "The Magic Castle". Having watched the first season and especially episode seven, there were just too many parallels between Bosch and Callen for me to ignore! Hence this fusion.
> 
> For the "Established Relationship" square of my Trope Bingo card.

Sam came into the lounge to find his partner on the couch, local news playing on the TV. Some sort of crime scene, looked like. He perched on the arm next to where Callen sat.

“Hey G, couldn’t sleep?” He rested a palm on his partner’s back, which felt cold through the thin T-shirt that was all he wore, one of Sam’s cast-offs.

Callen nodded. “They found them,” he said.

“Who found whom?” Sam nudged him to move over, which Callen did with a grumble. Sam grabbed the knitted blanket off the back of the couch, a gift from his mom, and wrapped it around both of them.

Callen immediately nestled closer and Sam’s arm automatically went around him. “LAPD found the fox and his hostage.”

“The fox?”

Callen finally turned to look at Sam for the first time, eyes dull and tired-looking. “Raynard Waits,” he explained. “It’s a bastardization of the French for fox.”

“Right,” Sam said. He turned back to the TV. “Did they say if the hostage is okay?”

Callen nodded and pointed to where an R.A. unit could be seen on screen. “She looks fine,” he said.

“That’s good. One lucky mama and baby tonight.”

“I knew him, you know,” Callen’s non-sequitur confused Sam. But then his partner was confusing him a lot tonight.

“Who did you know G? Waits?”

Callen sighed. “No, well maybe him too, briefly, but mostly I meant Bosch.”

Sam straightened from his slump and looked at his partner. “You never mentioned you knew him.”

“It was a long time ago,” Callen said with a shrug. “I didn’t really remember until that story came out about his mother, when he was involved in that civil trial.”

“Were you in the same foster home?” Sam asked.

Callen shook his head, but didn’t say anything else, back to staring at the story playing out on the screen in front of him. Sam resigned himself to not hearing anything else, used to that from his partner. He’d get an occasional tidbit, like the one he’d just had, but if he questioned Callen, he would just not answer. He still hadn’t quite learned the habit of not asking though.

He’d been lulled into almost sleep before Callen spoke again, so quietly Sam could barely hear. “It was this place, MacLaren Youth Hall. I was sent there when I first got here and got picked on straightaway.”

“The name thing?” Sam guessed.

Callen nodded. “That and the fact I couldn’t speak English.”

Sam looked round at that. “What?”

“I’d been living in Romania, remember,” Callen pointed out. 

Sam tended to forget that fact. “So what happened?”

“Well you know what Bosch’s first name is right?” Sam nodded. “So he told the other kids if they wanted to pick on someone for their name, they should choose him because he was named after someone who knew the devil.”

Sam snorted. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Yeah but what do kids know?” Callen asked. “It worked for a bit. He did get picked on after that, but he gave back as good as he got. It cost him though.”

Sam wasn’t surprised to hear that. “What happened?”

“He got thrown in the trunk.”

“What the hell was that?”

Callen grimaced and shivered, making Sam hug him tighter. “It was this tiny room they stuck kids in. Just a mattress in it. It was hell.”

“They put you in there too?”

Callen gave a hollow laugh. “What do you think? You know how much trouble I was as a kid.”

Sam hugged him tighter, he hated hearing stuff like this about his partner’s childhood, even as he appreciated the fact he confided in Sam. “You want to reach out to him?”

“I doubt he remembers me.”

“You remember him, so why wouldn’t he do the same?” Sam asked.

Callen screwed up his nose. “I hate when you get logical.” Sam laughed gently. “Besides, he probably doesn’t want to stir up any more of those memories than he has to. There was nothing good about that place.”

“Not sure I agree,” Sam said. “You have a good memory of him helping you, that must count for something G.”

Callen pulled away and stood up, then paced the lounge. Sam just watched, used to his partner getting restless when he was uncomfortable about personal stuff. 

“Let’s just leave it Sam,” he finally said, turning back to look at Sam who was still on the couch. “You should go back to bed.”

“We should go back to bed,” Sam corrected him gently. He picked up the blanket and folded it neatly before replacing it on the back of the couch. “We have work tomorrow.”

Callen sighed. “I’m not going to sleep Sam,” he said plainly.

“You can at least lie down and rest though,” Sam told him, holding out a hand and waiting patiently.

“Yeah okay,” Callen agreed on another sigh. He walked over to take Sam’s hand. “Thanks,” he added. “I know you didn’t sign on to deal with this shit.”

Sam gave him a quick kiss. “No but I did sign on to loving you and all that that entails,” he said. “We’ve all got baggage G.”

Sam guided him back through to their bedroom and quickly had them settled beneath the covers. “Just rest G,” he said gently.

Callen nodded and closed his eyes, curling into Sam the way he had on the couch earlier. Sam pressed a kiss to the top of his head and closed his own eyes. He did need sleep to function even if his partner could get away without it. Before long sleep rose up and claimed him.


End file.
